Come and explore the practice of mindfulness and its benefits to health and well-being at the drop-in groups noted below. They are open to all members of the Halifax community. Sessions include guided practice and discussion. These sessions are provided for free. Each is led by Atlantic Contemplative Centre Faculty. Email Jim Torbert jtorbert@eastlink.ca for more information or visit our website at: www.contemplativecentre.ca

Dartmouth OMG Thursday, 4-5:00 PM at 58 Tacoma Drive; South End OMG Wednesday, 12-1:00 PM in Room HC213, Homburg Health and Wellness Centre, Tower Road, St. Mary’s University; Young Street OMG Monday, 12:15-1:15 PM PM at the Halifax Peninsula Community Health Team 1st floor, 6080 Young; North End Community OMG Monday, 2-3PM at the North End Community Health Centre annex, 2103 Gottingen Street – Starting Monday, October 3 Open Mindfulness in the Bay Monthly starting Sunday, October 16, 2016 2:30-4:30 PM at the Tantallon Library.

Richard Davidson, founder of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains the four constituents of well-being. These constituents are rooted in specific brain circuits that exhibit neuroplasticity, which gives us the opportunity to enhance our well-being with practice.

In light of the known associations between stress, negative affect, and relapse, mindfulness strategies hold promise as a means of reducing relapse susceptibility. In a pilot randomized clinical trial, we evaluated the effects of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP), relative to a health education control condition (HE) among stimulant-dependent adults receiving contingency management. All participants received a 12-week contingency management (CM) intervention. (Continue reading)

What causes drug addiction? One Canadian physician argues that the problem isn’t the drugs themselves.

Dr. Gabor Maté believes — based on research and his own experience working at harm reduction clinics in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a poor area that has one of the worst drug problems in North America — that the root of addictive behaviors can be traced all the way back to childhood.